ALL ABOUT RUDY FERNANDEZ (ALMOST) IN VIDEOS

Run & dunk:

 Yes, he can.

Playing off the ball:

Note: Cutting to the rim and shooting from the three point line are two things he can do well, 

and those are complementary skills, or threats, because if his defender protects the rim he 

can take the three, because he has such a quick release. But if the defender gets closer to 

Rudy, he won´t be able to provide help near the rim and will get surprised by Rudy if he gets  

distracted for a second. In order to get the best of these abilities, Rudy needs a point guard 

with great passing skills out there though, someone able to find him in the right place, as 

Sergio Rodriguez was in Rudy´s rookie season, when he made the all time rookie record of 

three pointers in a regular season and participated in the all star dunk contest, thanks to his 

many alley-oops from Sergio´s passes).  

Last two seasons, once Sergio left the Blazers, PGs finding Rudy cutting to the rim has 

happened only occasionally:

With Blake

With Mills

Morer after the jump

Great passer.

Note: Amazing variety of passes, making his passing game impredictable. High basketball IQ. 

Many of his teammates considered him the best passer, in a Blazer team with Andre Miller in 

its roster! By the way, most of them considered him the best three point shooter. (From 

interviews published in http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/).

Lob especialist, mostly from pick & roll:

One  two  three  four  five ...

Between Dwight Howard legs

Among  defenders:

One   two 

Off Inbounds

Attracting defenders

In transition:

One  two  three

Reacting to what the defense gives: 

Hustle. And more hustle.

Note: Rudy will provide energy and effort all game long. You can take that to the bank.

Defense: 

Note: Great oportunistic defender, always very active, defends the passing lanes very well, 

disrupts the offense and helps his teammates, sometimes a bit too risky, not great keeping 

his man in front of him, although he has improved last season. Again, high basketball IQ.

2 steals in a row

Circus steal 

Ocasional block

Steal and dunk

Clutch:

Note: He might be clutch, but we don´t have enough of a track record, because he couldn´t 

have many opportunities in Brandon Roy´s territory, for obvious reasons.

Sometimes the perfect storm happens: 

3+1

defense+2p+steal+3 in less than five seconds. 

PG?:

Last December the Blazers surprised the Pacers with Rudy at PG position and won a game they 

were going to lose because his only reliable PG, Andre Miller, got ill, but the experiment 

ended later on because Rudy is a bad ballhandler and teams  adjusted to his weakness. 

Toughness:

Note: actually not someone you would call a tough player, but at least he is not afraid of 

taking a shot at Jarret Jack, one of the toughest guards in the NBA.

Opportunistic rebounder: 

One    two 

Coachable?: question mark. 

He´s always been very coachable in Spain, both in his former team (Joventut) and in he 

Spanish National team, where he has played for at least 4 different coaches.  When he came 

into the NBA he was aware he didn´t fit with Nate McMillan´s ideas (Sergio Rodriguez already 

hated those ones and probably poisoned Rudy´s mind), in addittion with having Brandon Roy 

playing his same position. He had his differences with McMillan from day one, although 

nothing negative went public until the end of the season, when Rudy said he wanted to be 

more than a corner three point shooter. You could see Brandon Roy avoiding to celebrate 

some plays with Rudy, who had timidily approached to him. And Roy was Nate´s right hand. 

McMillan´s coaching philosophy values over all efficiency and predictability (count Martell 

Webster and Channing Frye among the former Blazers that have criticized him). It works, at 

least in regular season, but it put a lot of preasure on Rudy, who felt he didn´t have Nate´s 

trust. Rudy had surgery on his backbone in 2010, fearing his career could end suddenly, he 

was having heated debates with McMillan about how he was used (it seems McMillan told 

Rudy "your problem is that he were a star in Spain and your are just another player in the 

NBA", and Rudy more or less privately said to his people "this guy is not going to f. me", 

leading to suspicions that Rudy quit against Phoenix when Roy was injured and couldn´t play 

in play offs) and, the ice on the cake, at that time Sergio found his way from Sacramento to 

New York, where Rudy would have liked to play (coach, city, etc), and Rudy started to think 

about finding his way out of Portland at any cost. There started the 2010 Rudy crisis in 

Portland, that finally exploded that summer. 

Rudy started the season saying he wanted to leave Portland, threatening not to show up. He 

was fined twice (although credit for the last one goes to his Spanish agent, who he fired 

lately among his American agent). Then suddenly he started to worry only about things under 

his control, made great friendship with Patty Mills (in addition with most of his teammates), 

had a long conversation with McMillan, apologized to his teammates, the organization and 

the owner personally, and said he was happy playing in Portland, every time he was asked 

about. Always was greatful with Blazers fans, who supported him until last year saga. He had 

some very good games at the start of the season and when Brandon Roy didn´t play because 

of injured knees, but he regressed once Roy returned. His relationship with Roy and McMillan 

was much better. McMillan said almost laughing: "This guy never takes the same shot twice", 

resuming with humor the good state of his differences. And he was saying so for a reason:

Crazy shots: One   two    three

More: 

-Marketable: Rudy is a selling machine. It helps that women like him, apparently. 

-Plus-Minus machine too: Cuban shows up. 

-Unselfish: Every time a teammate run with him, he will pass him the ball even if he has no 

defender between the rim and himself. 

-Good teammate: lots of friends among his former teammates. Nobody has said anything 

negative about Rudy, as far as I know.

-Still a prospect: Although his three years of NBA experience, it is still unkown how much 

Rudy can improve playing in a different system or with a different coach. 

Take a look at his 

performance in the last World Championship

In their last ACB regular seasons Luis Scola had an efficiency (similar to PER) of 21,1, Marc 

Gasol got 27,8 and Rudy 25,1, but Rudy made that number with less playing time than Marc. 

Time adjusted Rudy had a better record than both Scola and Marc Gasol before coming to the 

NBA.

-Most exciting player to watch since I follow basketball. Lots of great Youtubes:

Rudy Fernandez tribute to Sergio Rodriguez

RUDY! (DMKPDX)

Rudy Fernandez 4,3,2,1...in the face of Yao Ming

Rudy Fernandez mix (12)

Rudy Fernandez - El3vation

Rudy Fernandez Just Perfect

Rudy Fernandez Draft Spanish Prospect Piti Hurtado 182

Rudy Fernández space jam

Rudy Fernandez mix - A WINNER

Rudy Fernández - Miracle (Spanish National Team) Mix

Rudy Fernandez - Just Incredible [HD]

Rudy Fernandez - El Machetero mix

Rudy Fernandez Tribute (By WY)

Rudy Fernández - Learn To Fly (rare) Mix

Rudy Fernandez Mix ((By Santi))

Rudy Fernandez ACB

piti hurtado 149 rudy fernandez mix

Rudy Fernandez Hero

Rudy can´t fail ACB

Marc Gasol Rudy Fernandez - Ghost III - 2009 ASG Rookies vs Sophomores [HD] 1st Half

Marc Gasol Rudy Fernandez - Ghost III - 2009 ASG Rookies vs Sophomores [HD] 2nd Half

Where amazing happens.

One   two   three